Geomechanics (from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

prefix ''geo-'' meaning "

earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

"; and "

mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to objec ...

") is the study of the mechanical state of the earth's crust and the processes occurring in it under the influence of natural physical factors. It involves the study of the mechanics of soil and rock.

Background

The two main disciplines of geomechanics are

soil mechanics Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and wat ...

and

rock mechanics Rock mechanics is a theoretical and applied science of the mechanical behavior of rock and rock masses; compared to geology, it is that branch of mechanics concerned with the response of rock and rock masses to the force fields of their physical env ...

. The former deals with the behaviour of soil from a small scale to a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environmen ...

scale. The latter deals with issues in geosciences related to rock mass characterization and rock mass mechanics, such as applied to petroleum, mining and civil engineering problems, such as

borehole A borehole is a narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water ( drilled water well and tube well), other liquids (such as petrol ...

stability, tunnel design, rock breakage, slope stability, foundations, and rock drilling. Many aspects of geomechanics overlap with parts of

geotechnical engineering Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics for the solution of its respective engineering problems. It ...

engineering geology Engineering geology is the application of geology to engineering study for the purpose of assuring that the geological factors regarding the location, design, construction, operation and maintenance of engineering works are recognized and acc ...

, and geological engineering. Modern developments relate to

seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

continuum mechanics Continuum mechanics is a branch of mechanics that deals with the mechanical behavior of materials modeled as a continuous mass rather than as discrete particles. The French mathematician Augustin-Louis Cauchy was the first to formulate such mo ...

, discontinuum mechanics, and transport phenomena. In the petroleum engineering industry, geomechanics is used to predict important parameters, such as in-situ rock stress, modulus of elasticity, leak-off coefficient and

Poisson's ratio In materials science and solid mechanics, Poisson's ratio \nu ( nu) is a measure of the Poisson effect, the deformation (expansion or contraction) of a material in directions perpendicular to the specific direction of loading. The value of Po ...

. Reservoir parameters that include: formation

porosity Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void (i.e. "empty") spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0 and 1, or as a percentage between 0% and 100%. Strictly speaking, some tests measur ...

, permeability and bottom hole pressure can be derived from geomechanical evaluation. The geotechnical engineers relies on various techniques to obtain reliable data for geomechanical models. These techniques that have evolved over the years, are: coring and core testing, geophysical log analysis; well testing methods such as transient pressure analysis and hydraulic fracturing stress testing, and geophysical methods such as acoustic emission.

References

Additional sources

* * Mechanics Earth sciences Geotechnical engineering {{Civil-engineering-stub

Background

See also

References

Additional sources